Posts by A Ha

27

"If the Earth were just a little bit further from or closer to the Sun, we would all freeze or burn"

by Island Man in

i'm sure we've all heard this argument by theists employing the fine-tuning argument.

are you aware, however, of exactly how much this "little bit" really is?

theists would have us think that the slightest change in the distance would have drastic implications for survivability.

A Ha

Yes I find the finely tuned universe factoid to be hilarious. The same people fail to grasp the fact the finely tuned earth will one day be swallowed up by the finely tuned Sun when it becomes a finely tuned red giant...

The remnants of which will one day be swallowed up by a finely-tuned supermassive black hole, which will eventually dissipate via finely-tuned Hawking radiation until the universe is nothing but a featureless void, brought about by the finely-tuned expansion of the universe.

As for life... our earth is in a Goldilocks zone relative to producing our kind of life, but we don't even know that carbon- and water-based life is the only form of life possible. Carbon is a very versatile element, but it's not the only one that can form multiple bonds with a variety of other elements.

I also find it ironic that the people who usually make this "fine-tuned for life argument" believe the "real" form of life is an immaterial soul that doesn't even need a physical body.

44

The Atheist Delusion

by looter in

jw
friends

atheist delusion.

just want to know what the ex jw community thinks about this video and also offer my pov.

the video was actually an advertisement on here.

A Ha

How can you tell? Divine Revelation? Do you often hear voices in your head that nobody else can hear?

30

Why A Divine Being is Possible

by looter in

jw
friends

now we all have heard how the universe is composed of matter and space.

and we always here of how it had a beginning.

but really what could have begun it?

A Ha

Looter, so you "doubt" the laws of physics were always there, and you doubt the universe itself was always around, but then you close your eyes and just decide that God has always been around? Early in the thread, Onager posted two quotes that address your double standard: If you accept that something could have existed, uncaused, forever, then why could that not apply to the universe?

The alternative is that the universe hasn't always existed, but that still doesn't get you to God. There is no reason to say there can't be an uncaused event (it's not a logical impossibility). See the video shepherdless posted by Krauss.

21

Dealing with family

by G Skero in

i'm in my mid 40's and recently started bible study and going to meetings.

my family is really having a hard time with this.

my kids that are over 18 are no longer speaking to me and won't have anything to do with me.

A Ha

Why would your kids stop speaking to you because you started going to meetings? It seems to me that either there are other reasons for this estrangement or they know a lot about the organization and are really opposed to you getting involved.

Most members here are ex-JWs and have a ton of problems with the religion, and many (most?) think it is a cult. I would suggest doing a LOT of reading about this religion before you get serious about it. Once you're a member you will not be allowed to investigate, so do it now.

42

Just a reminder about voting

by Simon in

there appear to be some people who are of the mistaken opinion that endlessly clicking the like or dislike button 20x will mean 20x votes.. it doesn't !!!.

only one vote is ever counted.

1 user, 1 vote, each post.

A Ha

[Insert GOP - Voter ID joke here]

136

Sun,moon, earth and mathematics .

by atomant in

just thought id let you all in on some info i found on northeasttruth.com.

that magical moment where the moon blocks out the sun!

but only just enough to perfectly cover the suns disc, whilst still allowing us to see the corona of light and other electromagnetic forces radiating from it.. this only happens because the moon diameter is exactly 1/400th the size of the suns and is positioned at exactly 1/400th of the distance between earth and the sun!so, when we see it from the surface of earth, we are in the only place this can ever be seen, at the only time it could ever happen.

A Ha

Uranus, my baby, pride and joy, is double the distance from Saturn,compared to Jupiter, and that spacing is double from Jupiter, and that double from Ceres, and that double from Mars, and that double from Earth, and that double from Venus,

Interesting.... except virtually all of it is false. Uranus is roughly twice the distance from the sun as Saturn, but the rest of this is untrue. You've had so many of your miraculous resonances exposed as false, and rather than address the inaccuracies, you just bulldog your way onto another set of (false) coincidences. This kind of mumbo-jumbo might have worked decades ago, before the internet. Now all you do is lose more credibility with every false statement.

57

Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

by Sanchy in

jw
friends

so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

A Ha

I don't understand why...

Because he doesn't want to lose his family.

9

Reasons To Believe (Dr. Hugh Ross)

by stevieb1 in

is everyone familiar with dr. hugh ross and his organization reasons to believe?

i have learned much from this ministry.. hugh ross is a trained scientist and pastor who specialises in marrying the bible with science (both of which are records of truth).

he has an msc and phd in astronomy and was a post-doctoral fellow with the california institute of technology.

A Ha

Re: Adam as the first Jew.... Like I said, mental gymnastics. Ross wants you to believe that Genesis is literal history, as long as you don't take it literally.

9

Reasons To Believe (Dr. Hugh Ross)

by stevieb1 in

is everyone familiar with dr. hugh ross and his organization reasons to believe?

i have learned much from this ministry.. hugh ross is a trained scientist and pastor who specialises in marrying the bible with science (both of which are records of truth).

he has an msc and phd in astronomy and was a post-doctoral fellow with the california institute of technology.

A Ha

I haven't read any of his books, but I've heard him many times as a guest on a radio show I used to listen to. He comes across as disingenuous to me in that he pretends to be going where the evidence leads, however listening to him for just a few minutes shows that he does some impressive mental gymnastics to make sure the evidence leads to the conclusion he's already reached.

For someone pretending to be a sophisticated scientist, he falls back on some ridiculous arguments based on extremely questionable data and atrocious logic to the point that it's very difficult to believe he really thinks this way. I can't think of any specific examples, but it's on a par with someone who received a PhD in Biology saying, "Oh yeah? If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? Chessmate evolutionists!"

I've also spoken with Dr. "Fuz" Rana, who is a member of the RTB staff and the resident evolution-denier. He was talking on the radio show about a new finding regarding Neanterthals and Denisovans, and he just outright lied about the contents of the article he was quoting, which I had read.

136

Sun,moon, earth and mathematics .

by atomant in

just thought id let you all in on some info i found on northeasttruth.com.

that magical moment where the moon blocks out the sun!

but only just enough to perfectly cover the suns disc, whilst still allowing us to see the corona of light and other electromagnetic forces radiating from it.. this only happens because the moon diameter is exactly 1/400th the size of the suns and is positioned at exactly 1/400th of the distance between earth and the sun!so, when we see it from the surface of earth, we are in the only place this can ever be seen, at the only time it could ever happen.

A Ha

What would be really monumental is if there was a piece of toast that looked JUST LIKE JESUS!!!1!